Kommemorating the Ku Klux Klan

Abstract

Pulaski, Tennessee, is the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, a fact memorialized in a plaque that hangs on the wall of the old courthouse in the center of that town. Drawing on the post-Reconstruction myth of the “lost cause” of the Confederacy, Pulaskians have long celebrated the Klan in their town's history, remembering it as a noble and chivalrous group that saved the South from the ravages of Reconstruction. In recent years however, marches in Pulaski by the current Klan have led many Americans to believe that the Klan commemoration in Pulaski stands not for chivalry but for racism. The negative publicity of these Klan marches has created a problem of cognitive dissonance for Pulaskians, forcing them to rethink such commemoration. Ultimately, the people of Pulaksi opted to turn the Klan plaque around so that its inscription now faces the wall and cannot be read. Pulaskians claim this turning of the plaque illustrates both their town's continued allegiance to the Reconstruction Klan and their rejection of the current Klan's racism. We explain Pulaskians' reaction with two prominent approaches to the study of collective memory: the social constructionist view that collective memories are shaped by current concerns and the Durkheimian view that stresses the continuity of collective memories over time.